African American History
Addressing topics from the Transatlantic Slave Trade to present day
Timelines in African American History
The image here is from a visual guide, part of a larger report created by Equal Justice Initiative focusing on the Reconstruction era, namely the
"Racial Violence After the Civil War 1865-1876". Both resources are linked in below, and this image, posted here under Fair Use guidelines, is cited below.(click on image to enlarge)
Linked below are some online timelines that highlight some of the notable events, people, and larger concepts pulled from U.S. history, specifically pertaining to the lives, contributions, discrimination, and victories of black Americans.
- African American History in the American West TimelineA detailed timeline from BlackPast
- Black History: Moments in TimeSearch on this interactive timeline from "The Root" to read short articles on specific people or events in history.
- BlackPast: African American History TimelineSearch through this interactive timeline, covering events from 1500-roughly present day, on BlackPast.org
- Library of Congress: U.S History Primary Sources TimelineExplore important topics and moments in U.S. history through historical primary sources from the Library of Congress.
- National Archives: Interactive TimelineFind information, primary documents, articles, and more on this interactive timeline from the National Archives
- Reconstruction In America Racial Violence After the Civil War, 1865-1876A report, with various topic chapters, from the Equal Justice Initiative. Linked here as well, is a
visual guide which is accessible under the "Resources" options of the website. - The Rise of the Movement Timeline: 1942-54A Civil Right's Timeline and article from the National Park Service
- Slavery By Another Name: Interactive MapFrom PBS' American Experiences comes an interactive timeline and map regarding slavery and reconstruction in US History
- Timelines - Digital HistorySearch detailed timelines for the following topics :
Slavery and Abolition | American Revolution | Women's Rights | African American Civil Rights
Spanish American War | Reconstruction | Immigration | Gilded Age | World War I | World War II | Civil War |Technology - White House: Slavery in the President's NeighborAn interactive timeline with images and linked content, from the White House
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964 - TimelinesThis portion of the online exhibit from the Library of Congress briefly covers the dates of 1619-2014
Sources used on this page:
Equal Justice Initiative. (2020). Reconstruction in America: Racial violence after the Civil War, 1865-1876. https://eji.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ reconstruction-visual-reading-guide.pdf
Featured Books & eBooks
Use the arrows to scroll through titles; click on the titles for more info and/or access
Featured Events, Topics, and People
Notable Events
1600s-1800s
- Bacon's Rebellion (1675)
- New York City Slave Uprising (1712)
- New York Slave Conspiracy (1741)
- African Americans in the Revolutionary War (1775)
- Northwest Ordinance (1787)
- 3/5 Compromise (1787)
- The Cotton Gin is patented (1794)
- Cincinnati Race Riots (1836)
- Frederick Douglass' Narrative published (1845)
- The Great Compromise of 1850 (1850)
- Sojourner Truth’s Ain't I a Woman? (1850)
- The Bridget “biddy” Mason Case (1856)
- Dred Scott (1857)
- Harper's Ferry (1859)
- The New Mexico Territory Slave Code (1859-1862)
- Emancipation Proclamation (1862)
- American Civil War (1961-1865)
- African Americans in the Civil War (1863)
- Kansas State Colored Convention (1863)
- Sharecropping (1865-)
- Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
- Juneteenth is created (1865)
- Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
- The Great Exodus (1879)
- The Plessy V. Ferguson Decision (1896)
Featured Events, Topics, and People
Notable Events
1900s-resent
- Atlanta Race Riot (1906)
- NAACP formed (1909)
- Birth of a Nation, aired (1915)
- Nashville Streetcar Boycott (1905-1907)
- Great Migration (1915- c1960)
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Harlem Renaissance (1920s)
- The Duluth Lynchings (1920)
- Tulsa Race Massacre (1921)
- Dyer Anti-lynching Bill (1922)
- Scottsboro Boys Trial and Defense Campaign (1931–1937)
- Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment (1932-1972)
- Harlem Race Riot (1935)
- World War II (1939-1945)
- Detroit Race Riot (1943)
- Jackie Robinson in baseball (1947)
- Military Desegregation (1948)
- Baton Rouge Bus Boycott (1953)
- Brown v. Board (1954)
- Emmitt Till lynched (1955)
- Vietnam War (1955-1975)
- Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)
- The Clinton Desegregation Crisis (1956)
- Little Rock Crisis (1957)
- SNCC formed (1960)
- Freedom Rides (1961)
- Birmingham church bombing (1963)
- The California Fair Housing Act (1963-1968)
- The Harlem Race Riot (1964)
- Civil Rights Act (1964)
- Bloody Sunday Protest March, Selma (1965)
- Black Panther Party formed (1966)
- Chicago Freedom Movement (1965–1967)
- African Americans in the Vietnam War (1960s)
- Greensboro Sit-ins (1960)
- Detroit Race Riot (1967)
- Loving v. Virginia (1967)
- MLK assassinated (1968)
- Orangeburg Massacre (1968)
- Greensboro Massacre (1979)
- Rodney King Riots (1992)
- Million Man March (1995)
- Million Woman March (1995)
- The Cincinnati Riot (2001)
- Hurricane Katrina (2005)
- Barack Obama becomes President (2008, 2012)
- Trayvon Martin is killed (2012)
- Black Lives Matter hashtag founded by activist (2014)
- Ferguson Riot and Ferguson Unrest (2014-2015)
- The Charleston Church Massacre (2015)
- Loretta Lynch sworn in as first African American woman Attorney General (2015)
- Amanda Gorman is named the youngest National Youth Poet Laureate (2017)
- George Floyd is killed (2020)
- Breonna Taylor (2020)
- Kamala Harris sworn in as first African American and woman vice-president (2021)
Featured Events, Topics, and People
Historical & Contemporary Topics
- Slaves Resistance
- Abolitionist Pamphlet Campaigns
- The Underground Railroad
- The Fugitive Slave Act
- Women Abolitionists
- The Missouri Compromise and Dred Scott
- John Brown and His Raid
- Slavery and the Civil War
- Emancipation
- Resistance to Black Codes
- Radical Reconstruction
- The Rise of the KKK and Other Hate Groups
- Black Soldiers in WWI and WWII
- Understanding the Jim Crow South
- The Black Press and Jim Crow
- The National Association of Colored Women
- Rise of Pan-Africanism
- The Harlem Renaissance
- The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Black Lives Matter & George Floyd (Covid-19 time of racial upheaval/broadcasting)
- Black Power
- Black Representation in Government
- Mass incarceration
- Capital punishment disparity
- Income inequality
- Affirmative action
- Redlining and Housing Segregation
- Housing discrimination
- Gay rights and Black churches
- Education gap
- The War on Drugs
- The Million Man March
- Police Racism, Violence, and Black Lives Matter
- Resisting Racism Today
- Mainstreaming of African American Music
- Demographics of US cities
- Slavery reparations
- Media portrayal of African Americans
- Police brutality/profiling
- Voter turnout
- Health disparities
- Anti-Racism
- Critical Race Theory
Featured Events, Topics, and People
Notable Figures
- W.E.B. DuBois
- Medgar Evers
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Malcolm X
- Thurgood Marshall
- Rosa Parks
- Dorothy Dandridge
- Ida B. Wells
- Booker T. Washington
- George Washington Carver
- Josephine Baker
- James Baldwin
- Langston Hughes
- Paul Robeson
- Henry Ossawa Tanner
- James Van Der Zee
- Ralph Ellison
- James Meredith
- Willa B. Player
- Carter G. Woodson
- Oprah Winfrey
- Nat Turner
- The Black Panthers
- President Obama
- Rodney King
- Cornell West
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- Condoleeza Rice
- John Brown
- Maya Angelou
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